


one life influencing another

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: tomorrow’s precious memories [9]
Category: Blue Bloods (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ice Cream and Fluff, Post-Episode S09E09 - Handcuffs, Spoilers for S09E09 - Handcuffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 22:37:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16798420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: They ended up at the Ice Cream Factory after work that day, mostly because neither of them was interested in heading home and facing the silence their secluded apartment often offered. On that day more than any other, they needed to be around other people simply to be reminded that they weren't all evil.Post "Handcuffs." Jamie and Eddie eat ice cream and discuss leadership like it's just a normal afternoon. Which, for them, it is.





	one life influencing another

**Author's Note:**

> "Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another." - John C. Maxwell

They ended up at the Ice Cream Factory after work that day, mostly because neither of them was interested in heading home and facing the silence their secluded apartment offered. Building the case against the Bushwick Butcher had meant reviewing the crimes he’d been suspected in – the crimes his DNA sample had proven he had in fact committed – with the detectives who’d first investigated months before. When that was over, the last thing Eddie wanted to do was relax at home in comfortable silence. No, she needed to be around other people to remind herself that they weren’t all evil. On days like the one she’d just had, it seemed they all shaped up to be.

Jamie flashed a small smile as he slid into the booth across from her own, wielding an ice cream cone in each hand. “Two scoops of chocolate for the lady, as requested,” he said, extending the frozen treat in her direction and waiting until she took it from his hand before beginning to eat his own. He eyed her curiously across the table for several moments, taking note of the fact that she lacked her usual enthusiasm for all things sugary sweet, before speaking again. “Everything okay over there, Ed? You good?”

Eddie shook her head, trying and failing to get off the path of worst-case scenarios her mind was attempting to lead her down. “Yeah,” she replied unconvincingly, taking a bite of her own ice cream. “Of course. I’m just thinking, that’s all.” She sighed when he remained skeptical. “If we hadn’t kicked down every door in that complex the other day, then this guy would still be walking the streets, completely scot-free.”

“Yeah,” Jamie agreed, not even attempting to convince her that there could’ve been another way to bring the man in. “He would be.”

Eddie sighed quietly. “I’m on your side, you know that,” she told him softly. “When it comes down to you and your dad, when the two of you argue, I’m always going to be in your corner. You know that, right?”

“’Course I do,” Jamie answered immediately. There was no trace of hesitation in his quick response. “But why are you bringing it up now?”

“Because I agree with him. On this, at least. I think he made the right call, doing what he did.” Eddie bit nervously at her bottom lip as she waited for his response.

Oh.” Jamie sighed. “Eddie, there’s nothing wrong with thinking that,” he told her seriously. “Especially since you were in the thick of it on the day this all started.” He shook his head. “Look, there are things I don’t agree with about how it all went down. I think there were other ways to go about things. But I can’t argue with the results. And I can’t ignore the fact that, somewhere out there, a kid knows that we are getting justice for the people who were taken from her. To me, that’s enough to make whatever blowback the department gets hit with in the next few days – weeks, months – worth it.”

Eddie nodded slowly. “You were a good sergeant this week,” she said genuinely. “You made all the right calls for all the right reasons, even if it meant ruffling some feathers in the process. You proved that I was right about what I said to you back when your results came in. You, Jamie Reagan, are a natural-born leader.” She took a large bite of her ice cream cone to keep it from melting all over her hands.

Jamie scoffed quietly at the observation. “I don’t know about that. There were about two decisions out of two hundred that I didn’t second-guess the minute I made them.”

“Yeah, well, then you’re a humble natural-born leader. It could be worse. You could be arrogant.” Eddie smiled when her fiancé simply rolled his eyes. “There is one bad thing that has come of this week, you know,” she sighed after a moment. “I’m beginning to think I might be leaving the leadership stuff to you.”

Jamie’s eyes darted to hers the moment she finished speaking. “What do you mean? You’re not going to take a spot if it opens up? Why would you do that?” he asked disbelievingly. “Ed, you were thrilled when you found out you were on the list. What’s changed?”

“Everything,” Eddie replied helplessly. “I’ve been around you when you’d had to make hard calls. I’ve slept next to you on the nights you stayed up tossing and turning, wondering if you’d made the right decision. And you’re the most level-headed person I know. You’re still like a Boy Scout, even with the stripes. Do you really think _I_ need to be running around, barking out orders to cops, when I still cry at every commercial featuring a dog even now that I’m in my thirties?”

“Those commercials are designed to pull at heartstrings; it’s how they make their profits,” Jamie explained for the thousandth time. “And feeling instead of thinking isn’t always a bad thing, Eddie. There is such a thing as being too logical. Believe me. I toe the line on a daily basis.”

“I do think about what other people are going to see,” Eddie admitted quietly. “And I don’t encourage the people walking the streets with me to engage with people who just want to hurt them, even if that means standing there and letting random strangers drag my name through the mud. I can deal with a few slurs being tossed around on our way out, Jamie. I couldn’t live with myself if someone died because I made the decision to play ball with someone who wasn’t messing around.”

“I know where you’re coming from,” Jamie nodded, thinking back to the previous week’s events and the cop he’d nearly lost because of his own decisions. “But what you’re not getting is that everyone feels the way you’re feeling, Eddie. If you weren’t worried about making the wrong call, about getting one of your people hurt, then you would not be fit to wear stripes. And if I didn’t think you’d make one hell of a leader, I would not be sitting here having this conversation with you. But I am. What does that tell you?”

“That you’re a supportive and loving fiancé who’ll always be in my corner?” Eddie sighed when Jamie simply shot her an unimpressed look. “That you think I’m a natural-born leader, too.”

“Exactly,” Jamie said as he polished off the last of his ice cream. “And soon enough, the whole world’s going to know it, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is a real place I've never been to. It's also one of the first places that pops up when you ask Google to find ice cream shops in Brooklyn Heights. The more you know...


End file.
